Heike von Klepp
In the Miklo graphic novel L'Oasis Perdue, Heike von Klepp was a German archaeologist attached to the German embassy in Cairo. She had a licence to excavate for antiquities and had a secret mission to find the lost oasis of Akhnaton in order to secure the "secret of life and death", a mystery which had been mentioned in ancient papyrus scrolls. Operating with Obersturmbahnfuhrer Botho von Ettal, Ottmar Strupfler and Erich von Stalhein, her colleagues also had a secondary mission to supply bandits with weapons so as to undermine the authority of the pro-British government of Egypt although there is no indication that Heike was ever interested in this. Biggles first met Heike at a reception at the German embassy shortly after his arrival at Cairo with Algy, Bertie and Ginger to take up a job to train the Egyptian Air Force. Biggles' paths would cross with Heike again, this time in the Egyptian desert. The governor had given Biggles a secret mission to find out what the Germans were up to near the Sudanese border. Meanwhile he had also met Kamal El Melen who believed he knew where the lost oasis of Akhnaton was. Since these two missions led in the same direction, Biggles combined them. After crashing in a sandstorm, Biggles and co. stumbled upon the lost oasis to discover that Heike's team had already found it much earlier and excavations were in full progress. Although Biggles and co. were prisoners, Heike and Ottmar Strupfler welcomed their arrival. The two of them wanted to leave the oasis. They had already found enough to make them rich. Besides, the Germans had to fight off frequent attacks by the Askar Mota, a strange people who were the inhabitants of the oasis and distant descendents of the army of Akhnaton. However von Ettal and von Stalhein were adamant on staying on. The only hope of escape was to steal a Heinkel He-111 which the German team used as transport, but only von Stalhein could fly it. Perhaps Biggles could help? Von Ettal, however, learnt of the plot and shot Strupfler. Further debate on the topic was suspended as the Askar Mota attacked again. In the midst of this, Heike escaped into the caves underneath the temples above. There she entered the forbidden sanctum, the den of the "Immortal Master". Later, Biggles and co. through their own set of adventures and misadventures, also escaped from the Askar Mota and descended into the underground sanctum accompanied by Nigel Waddington, another aviator who had been held prisoner at the oasis for many years. While crossing the sanctum, Bertie fell into a pond and was attacked by an enormous crocodile. Heike saw this and killed the beast with a rifle shot. She then met up with Biggles. Surely after doing them this favour they must agree to take her with them? Biggles agreed, and as Heike has had time to explore the caverns thoroughly so she could lead the team out, emerging into the open desert on the other side of the mountains which hid the oasis. They repaired Biggles' damaged Dragon Rapide with parts from Waddington's crashed Anson and spent a night in the desert, ready to depart the next morning. The next morning Waddington confronted everyone with a rifle. He did want the secret of the Askar Mota revealed and their way of life destroyed. Biggles and Heike gave him their word. Back in Cairo, the evidence collected by Biggles' team, several German diplomats were expelled from Cairo, Heike is among them. Biggles went to see her off at the airport. Heike, on taking her leave, thanked Biggles for the night in the desert. It was "intense", whatever that meant. On the plane out of Cairo, Heike met von Stalhein who had somehow also escaped from the oasis. He had collected the papyrus scrolls and samples of the "water of life and death". Heike told von Stalhein she had given her word to keep her discovery secret. Von Stalhein agreed. What they had found was too good for Hitler. Tantalisingly, he suggested that they could do much better. Category:People Category:Non-canonical characters